A drone strike on a funeral procession at a cemetery in the Sudanese city of el-Obeid has killed at least four people and injured several others, according to two rights groups, Sudan Doctors Network and Emergency Lawyers.

Both groups blame the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for the attack. Emergency Lawyers said it was part of a series of drone strikes that began on Wednesday evening, killing at least 23 people in total.

The RSF has not commented. El-Obeid, currently under army control, is a key battleground in Sudan's three-year civil war, which began after the leaders of the army and RSF fell out over the country's future direction.

The fighting has created the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with over 11 million people displaced and 28 million facing acute hunger. Reliable death toll figures are unavailable, but at least 50,000 are believed dead.

In addition to the cemetery attack, Emergency Lawyers reported that drones struck homes in a residential neighborhood, the airport district, and areas around an army base. Thirteen civilians were killed as they gathered near destroyed houses. Five civilians were killed in earlier attacks.

"It is tragic. The roofs of houses collapsed on their occupants. When you look at some houses, you feel no-one could have survived," a resident told AFP.

In another attack, a driver of a food supply truck died when his vehicle was struck on Thursday. Both groups describe systematic and repeated attacks on civilians in el-Obeid for several days.

The city is in Sudan's oil-rich Kordofan region and has become a major front line due to its strategic significance, sitting between RSF-controlled areas in the west and army-held east. Analysts say whoever controls the region effectively controls the country's oil supply and a large portion of the country.

Source: www.bbc.com